Episode 2: "Prairie Fires" – Caroline Fraser

Season Description

Premiering in September 2018, the Our Missouri Podcast's inaugural season opens with Bob Priddy discussing his book, “The Art of the Missouri Capitol.” From that auspicious start, listeners can explore all corners of the state from Kansas City and the Missouri River Valley to the Governor's Mansion, the Ozarks, and the Land of Big Red Apples. Season 1 also features conversations on key topics, including Genealogy, National History Day, and Missouri's Bicentennial.

Episode Description

Once upon a time, sixty years ago (now nearly 150 years ago), a little girl lived in the big woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs. With that opening scene, Laura Ingalls Wilder launched the Little House book series that eventually became a key piece of American culture. But, did you know, that despite her stories of little houses on the prairies of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, and the Dakota Territory, Laura Ingalls Wilder actually spent a majority of her life in the tiny town of Mansfield, Missouri? This episode features Pulitzer Prize-winning author Caroline Fraser talking about her recent book, Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder. In her award-winning book, Fraser provides a stunning account of the events that not only shaped Laura Ingalls Wilder's life but also inspired her later literary masterpieces.

 

Episode & Banner Image: Cabin at Summersville, Missouri, ca. 1880 [South Central Missouri, Photograph Collection (P1125), SHSMO]